


Only Waiting

by drneroisgod



Series: You're All The Things I've Got to Remember [4]
Category: H.I.V.E. Series - Mark Walden
Genre: Flashbacks, Gen, Song Lyrics, Song fic, and some good old-fashioned murder, furan and glasshouse flashbacks (i guess?)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:48:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24104692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drneroisgod/pseuds/drneroisgod
Summary: Raven unexpectedly goes on her first solo mission for G.L.O.V.E.
Relationships: Natalya | Raven & Maximilian Nero
Series: You're All The Things I've Got to Remember [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1478930
Comments: 10
Kudos: 15





	Only Waiting

**Author's Note:**

> Credits go to Mark Walden and to The Beatles for "Blackbird," although this piece was actually inspired by a cover done by Chase Holfelder.

Raven had spent enough time in the dark that she was not afraid of it. 

She remembered running in the snow, the chill kniving between her toes as she made for the only shelter for miles. She would have given all her fingers and toes that night. Any night. 

She did not like to remember what Pietor Furan had said to her after catching her. She did not even like to remember the victory of tossing his mocking, bloody eyeball into the night. She remembered, instead, how much it hurt to bring her toes back to life. She had no one to help warm them.

_ Blackbird singing in the dead of night _

_ Take these broken wings and learn to fly _

Dr. Nero smelled like spiced tea and old papers. “Did you sleep well?” 

“I wasn’t asleep.” Raven squinted into the pale yellow light outside the Shroud. It had been a ten-hour flight from H.I.V.E. and she couldn’t wait to stretch her legs. 

Nero waited for her to strap her twin katanas to her back before they descended the ramp. Raven scanned the urban sprawl that was Johannesburg—a crammed and angular affair, in the way most enormous cities were. She couldn’t deny it was huge; she was suddenly glad that Nero had encouraged her to read up on the city before she presented herself to the G.L.O.V.E. ruling council. Her training at the Glasshouse had never prioritized world geography. He’d spared her from looking the fool, at least.

Nero offered her a withdrawn, employerly look. “Shall we?”

_ All your life _

_ You were only waiting for this moment to arise _

“Well then, let’s see if this little Raven is as good as Nero claims,” Gregori Leonov said in his big, booming Russian voice. It reminded her a little of home. “Let’s send her after the Kowalski brothers and be done with them.”

“Raven has completed multiple missions for G.L.O.V.E. since joining our organization,” Nero replied, keeping his voice level. “She hardly need murder a few troublesome boys simply to justify standing here, Gregori.”

They spoke as if she were absent. Raven did not look at any of the council members, instead maintaining her rigid posture. They would see her for who she was, in time.

“Are you suggesting I cannot use any of G.L.O.V.E.’s resources as I choose?” Number One asked, his voice cruel over the video transmission.

“Of course not, sir.”

“Then send her. And Max?”

“Yes, sir?”

“Keep her on a tight leash. We still cannot trust her motives.”

_ Blackbird singing in the dead of night _

_ Take these sunken eyes and learn to see _

“Go over your plan with me one more time,” Nero said. Their accommodations here in the north of Poland were not nearly as fine as they had been in Johannesburg (and there was no catering), but the penthouse Nero had leased for the occasion was cozy in its own way.

“G.L.O.V.E. will transport us outside the Kowalski home, where I’ll leave you,” Raven said, pointing to the drop-off on the blueprint. “I can ghost their security system through the outlet here—”

Nero interrupted her with a violent cough. Raven watched, wide-eyed. “Excuse me,” Nero said. “Continue.”

His cough only got worse as the night continued. He took some tea and then a hot bath, but refused any offers to go purchase cough medicine. He was fine, he said. He certainly wasn’t dying. 

The next morning, Raven sat on the end of his bed, looking worried.

“It’s just a cold,” Nero insisted. “The mission is still on. You’ll just go without me.”

Raven frowned. “What about keeping me on a tight leash?”

“You’re one of the most talented operatives I’ve ever seen, Natalya. You don’t need me to hold your hand.”

_ All your life _

_ You were only waiting for this moment to be free _

He was right. Though Raven had felt some trepidation at approaching her helicopter pilot alone, the exhilaration of the mission took over once they were in the air. She’d trained for this since she was a little girl. She could have done this mission in her sleep.

It was a simple matter of jumping out of a helicopter and into a garden, zapping the security system, sneaking through a second story window, and easing open a thick oak door. 

It was a funny thing, she thought, as she drew her swords from her back. She drew no professional pride from her earlier work—as a tool, she had no need of pride. She had been mechanical. Cold. Perfect. Yet somehow, she knew this was better.

“Hello boys,” she said. “Number One asked me to have a little talk with you.”

_ Blackbird fly, blackbird fly _

_ Into the light of a dark black night _

Sirens. Raven unceremoniously wiped her swords on what were sure to be very expensive curtains before sheathing them again. The back exit was no longer a viable way out. 

She ran up the stairs and through the attic, swinging out the window and launching herself toward the gutter. In one fluid motion, she swung up and over the rim, her combat boots taking purchase on the shingles. Down below, she heard law enforcement begin to break down the door. 

“Get out of here,” she radioed the pilot. “I’ll make my own way home.”

Raven took a few steps back until she was halfway across the roof. She inhaled once, twice. She ran. Wind whipping through her close-cropped hair, she thrust with all her might as she reached the last few tiles and sprung into the thin air, flailing, falling, flying into the waiting boughs of a sycamore tree. 

She scrambled down, dropping onto the other side of the fence, and ran for all she was worth.

_ Blackbird fly, blackbird fly _

_ Into the light of a dark black night _

After she had taken flight—after she had tried—Pietor Furan had left her with a ratty polyester sheet and the relative solitude of an isolation cell to recover the feeling in her fingers. She wrapped her hands around her neck, willing her tinny pulse to end the stiffness and discomfort. 

Her toes were not so easily warmed. She sat criss-cross, to start, and when her fingers had started responding, she began a slow massage of her toes. As the blood pumped through her feet, so did the pain. Even so, she did not stop massaging the frost out from behind her toenails. She knew that if there was light to see, her feet would be blushing pink again.

A hollow victory. 

Satisfied, at least, that there would be no amputation, Raven curled onto her side. Her wings were clipped. They always would be, she thought. And she might as well choose a warmer prison next time. Sighing deeply, she pressed her cold hands between her thighs and waited for light.

_ Blackbird singing in the dead of night _

_ Take these broken wings and learn to fly _

Nero refused to take any sort of medicine until he had given Raven the full spectrum of his thoughts. 

“What happened to following the plan?” he demanded, his voice squeaking and rasping around his congestion. “You had to have your own solo mission at some point, but what will Number One say?”

“Max.”

“Obviously, I understand that you had to make a decision, and I appreciate that your life was on the line. You did what you had to do.”

“Max.”

“I was worried about you, Natalya! I didn’t hear from you for eighteen hours! I didn’t know if you were dead or had been captured or run away—”

“Would you just drink the cough medicine, Max?”

Nero glared at her as he downed his dose. “If you weren’t so good at what you do, I’d also remind you of the fact that you are only seventeen and there would be questions if you had been arrested.”

“You’re going to make yourself worse,” Raven said, her face the picture of tranquility. “I’m alive. Now lay down and let me read.”

“Just listen—”

“This is my favorite book in the world,” Raven read loudly, ignoring him, “though I have never read it.”

Quietly, Nero relaxed into his pillows.

_ All your life _

_ You were only waiting for this moment to arise _

“She did well.”

“She did.”

“Do you think she’s ready for more?”

“I think she would be thrilled at the opportunity.”

“I asked if you thought she was ready.”

“I do, sir. She has my utmost confidence.”

“Very well, Nero. I will begin sending her on more missions. Just remember, any failure on her part will come back to reflect on you as well.”

“Of course, sir.”

_ You were only waiting for this moment to arise _

Raven’s cheeks were flushed when she stopped to check on Nero in his quarters at H.I.V.E. Unlike students, the teaching staff had painting privileges and his room was an eerie burgundy that reminded her somehow of a castle, though she had no explanation for it.

“Almost recovered?” she asked.

“Very nearly,” Nero said, not looking up from his laptop. “How was grappler practice with the colonel?”

“I had a lot of fun,” Raven grinned. “My feet didn’t touch the ground for nearly an hour.”

Nero smiled at her. “Your arms won’t thank you in the morning. Get some rest. I believe Number One has his eye on you for another job.”

Raven nodded. “Yes, sir.” 

Back in her own quarters, she stripped down to her underclothes and tucked herself into bed. “H.I.V.E.mind, turn down the temperature one degree,” she said.

“Temperature set to 20 degrees Celsius,” H.I.V.E.mind replied. 

Raven slid into her flannel sheets, taking deep, even breaths of the cool air blowing into the room. Luxury. She let her whole body relax: her neck, her hands, her thighs, her toes. 

“Lamp off,” she murmured. The room fell dark. She listened again to the sound of her breath, how it rose and fell like waves breaking against snow. She closed her eyes. She waited for light.

_ You were only waiting for this moment to arise _

**Author's Note:**

> The book Raven reads to Nero is The Princess Bride by William Goldman!


End file.
